The Most Unique Era of Star Wars: The Prequels

Star Wars has always been a bit of an up and down franchise for me I remember growing up and loving every single thing about Star Wars the movies the games the toys the Legos and I really couldn't get enough of it for a while in my teenage years Star Wars was done it was over cemented as one of my all-time favorite franchises and then it came back and it's been a Non-Stop train of content really since that moment some of it's been great and some of it not so much but I always go back to those days that I was all about Star Wars and that really had everything to do with the prequel era Star Wars has always been made up of different eras and now that there's all these different shows that slide into one era or another the prequel era will always hold a special place in my heart this is what I think of when I hear Star Wars not this and certainly not this and growing up I was told how crazy it is that I thought the prequels were the best but that opinion has really changed over the years you see my generation grew up all of us having these cherished memories of the prequel era from when we were kids and now it seems that the prequels get more love than they ever had before so in this retrospective I'm gonna be talking about what makes the prequel era so special and so different from really all of the other eras in the Star Wars Universe give my thoughts on each of the prequel movies The Clone Wars and tales of the Jedi before analyzing the story itself and why I think it's by far the best story to come out of Star Wars as a whole so join in on Co-op Lego Star Wars try spinning because that's a good trick and make a whole TV show that makes the prequels inherently better in every conceivable way as we make our way through the prequel era of Star Wars [Music] [Applause] [Music] we have to start with the movie that really started this whole era of course The Phantom Menace seeing that this was a prequel to the original trilogy there were a lot of things that older fans were looking forward to Young Darth Vader young Ben Kenobi more Jedi and all that stuff is really cool but that wasn't how I experienced the story so I'm gonna make this video in a way that's true to my own recollection and feelings and act like this is the very first bit of Star Wars I've seen because back in the day it was looking back at this movie it is largely set up for the events to come which is fine and you get a broader picture and more complete story because of this film but it also doesn't entirely feel that necessary as a film there are elements in this film that are now needed to understand some of the events that would go on to happen later on in the Clone Wars like the entire character of Darth Maul and even Count Dooku and his relationship to both Qui-Gon and the Jedi but if you took those elements away the most important aspect of the film is how Anakin Skywalker got to the Jedi Temple in the first place I'm not saying this is a bad movie because I certainly don't think it is there's great aspects to the film the pod racing scene is probably my favorite scene of the film my least favorite from the Lego game but that's a different story and the duel the fates stands as one of if not the best lightsaber battle in all of Star Wars even after all these years later we got to see cool lightsaber action new Force powers that we see here and then never again new planets and places and overall this movie has that cool factor that some of the later movies don't have the main issue I have with this film is the pacing and the story structure I remember watching red letter media's review on why the phantom menace is so bad and one thing that really stuck out to me for those that haven't seen the video I want you to answer who the protagonist of the movie is is it Qui-Gon he doesn't really have a character Arc in the film at all is it Obi-Wan he has a bit of a character art but he's also absent for a large majority of the second act is it Anakin Skywalker well he doesn't appear until about 45 minutes into the movie so who is it Jar Jar Binks maybe while the previous Star Wars films followed the hero's journey structure this film doesn't really have a structure but regardless of the protagonist issue I still really like all of these characters in the film yes even this guy seeing Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan really be the Catalyst for this entire franchise and universe is really great because for one you have a Jedi Knight Liam Neeson and his Young Apprentice Obi-Wan leading the charge both of which would go on to be remembered quite fondly for their different roles in the the universe I've seen a common complaint raised about Qui-Gon time and time again that he isn't much of a character but I couldn't disagree more Qui-Gon doesn't play by the rules of the Jedi he does what he sees fit and what he feels he should do rather than what the Jedi say is right for him to do in the movie Obi-Wan tells him that he'll never get on the council if he continues being Reckless and Qui-Gon doesn't seem to care at all he feels like he has a duty to the Jedi by bringing this Anakin Skywalker kid to them because he's possibly the chosen one the Jedi Council doesn't allow him to have another Apprentice because he already has one even though both Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon feel that Obi-Wan is ready to take the trials but the Jedi Order doesn't allow it this was really the first indication that the Jedi Order might not be all that great but I'll certainly get into that later on there is part of me that finds this movie incredibly boring the opening crawl might be the worst out of all the opening crawls I said might be and also a lot of a space politics stuff never really resonated with me as a kid if you can believe that and it still doesn't resonate with me now but I think that the point of this story was to show a small scale Star Wars story before getting into the action and the main events that would come this was really the Jedi's job they were keepers of the peace trying to negotiate different political moves and use their weapons as a backup only they didn't start out as war generals and I think the whole point of this movie was to show us what the Jedi were really like wanting to do good but ultimately tripping on their own feet to get things done Darth Maul was a cool villain to look at but other than his fight scene he wasn't much of a character which just feels like a wasted opportunity I wish there was some way to like I don't know resurrect his character and give him a great character Arc uh oh well there was also this Darth Sidious guy who seems like he has some sort of plan up his sleeve I wonder what that could be I wonder who he is and if he'll even be important I guess time will tell so while I do have fond memories of this film and I'll re-watch it from time to time this is ultimately my least favorite of the prequel films so I'm gonna give this a pretty comfortable 7 out of 10. this is really the movie that I first remember seeing and thinking wow this is Star Wars still watching The Arena fight with all the Droids on one end and all the Jedi on the other gives me chills because this is all I want out of Star Wars give me a full-scale war with Jedi and Sith yes I know the rule of two and the Jedi order has been done for decades but come on now this is so cool the problems I have with the phantom menace I don't have here but there's also problems I have here that I didn't have with the phantom menace to start with the plot and the pacing and the structure of this movie are completely solid on paper the plot of this movie is golden two Jedi Knights get wrapped up in a plot to kill a senator so one of them goes to protect the senator while the other goes to uncover the mystery of who's behind it all meanwhile the young Jedi falls in love with a senator and goes through his own personal story arc while the older Jedi finds that this mystery is much bigger than he initially thought it would be then the story reconvenes and what would end up being the first battle in a war that goes on for years that sounds incredible it seems that this time around George Lucas had a much more concrete idea for the plot and was getting to the real meat of the story he wanted to tell the downfall of the Jedi and the tragedy of Anakin Skywalker the execution of this plot was in Parts great but in other parts not so great this is where we have to talk about Hayden Christensen now I'm a big Hayden fan I think he's a pretty underrated actor and I'm so happy that he's finally getting the praise that he deserves for playing this character but an attack of the Clones he's not very good now there's always been a back and forth conversation as to why that is if Hayden's a good actor then it must not be his fault right well I think that there's partial blame to go around one of the issues in this film that The Phantom Menace didn't have is the dialogue for the most part Fanta Menace has pretty solid dialogue there's not really any memeable moments and the delivery is all solid so I'm not sure what happened with this film if George Lucas was trying his hand at being Shakespeare or what but the delivery and the direction and just the writing in general is not very good there are dozens of memeable moments in this film most of which come from the Anakin Padme side of the story but there is also you and McGregor memes that are great too so the direction and the dialogue weren't very good so Hayden didn't really have much to work with in regards to his performance but I also think that he was just setting into the character of Anakin and learning how to play him balance the Charming and lighthearted Jedi rebel with the dark side calling to him in this film Hayden really leans much more into the dark side and that he would eventually become Darth Vader rather than showing us the character of Anakin Skywalker and this warming into the role was really present for Ewan McGregor too in The Phantom Menace ewan's Obi-Wan is really pretty shy and doesn't have his typical Obi Juan quips and remarks now that could have been a stylistic decision by George Lucas but ewan's performance and attack of the Clones is much closer to the Obi-Wan that everybody knows and loves because this was his second go around at the role and he felt more comfortable performing this character Hayden was asked to do a lot in his first go-around of the character make the character likable and sympathetic while also showing some darker tendencies that would lead to Cinema's most iconic villain of all time that's a lot of pressure to put on a kid so when you look at it through that lens Hayden did a fine job but he had a lot to learn so he did learn and he can't really fault him for it because I'm sure there are things that he wishes he could go back and change too Obi-Wan's side of the story is definitely the more interesting of the two we get to meet the great Dexter jetster which sends Obi-Wan on his trip to kamino where a whole Clone Army is being built and The Man Behind the attempted assassination is the person who the Clone Army is built after this film also introduced us to count Dooku or Darth taranus and this scene with Obi-Wan is perhaps the most interesting in the entire film Dooku flat out tells Obi-Wan that the Jedi are being played by Darth Sidious and that if Obi-Wan joins them they can take him out but Obi-Wan doesn't think he's telling the truth so he says no this is where the death of Qui-Gon becomes so important if Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon have their roles reversed and this was Qui-Gon he'd probably believe his old Master they could go on and try and take out Sidious and Anakin would never go on to be Darth Vader of course this whole scenario is ripe for what ifs but qui-gon's death is really the Catalyst for everything in this whole story in that sense Qui-Gon is really like the Ned Stark of the Star Wars universe and had that singular death been altered or changed then the entire story as we know it would be very different we also get another glimpse of the mysterious hooded Darth Sidious his face kinda looks familiar but I just really can't place it one thing that The Phantom Menace does better is of course the lightsaber Duel at the end of the film attack of the Clones has one of the more forgettable lightsaber fights with Dooku Anakin Obi-Wan and Yoda and one thing that I didn't realize until like a few years ago was that this was when the audience first learned that Yoda could use a lightsaber and that he even had one whereas in my life I've always known Yoda to have a lightsaber so these small things that I realized after multiple re-watches are always really cool to find out so is this movie better than the phantom menace uh in some ways yes but in other ways no like I said the structure is much better the plot on paper is very good the cool factor is certainly there especially with the introduction of the Clones but the execution doesn't always deliver but the Nostalgia factor is very high for me and this is my very biased video so I'll give attack of the Clones a 7.5 alright on to the big one thank you there had been so much talk about the Clone Wars for years dating as far back as the original film in 1977 the Clone Wars had been a much speculated topic and we finally got to see what it was really like all these years later and the clone wars during the time it was airing had a huge task ahead of itself the reception for the prequels wasn't exactly glowing and the Clone Wars was tasked with filling in additional gaps that would make the trilogy itself make more sense and on top of that some new plot lines and characters like Captain Rex and Ahsoka Tano that would serve as Ultra important characters yet nowhere to be seen in Revenge of the Sith the task only grew larger not to mention there was already a Clone Wars animated series that was met with praise and adoration from fans why try recapturing that lightning in a bottle for a second time the 2003 animated Clone Wars gave us the introduction to characters like asajj Ventress and General Grievous as well as continuing the stories of characters like Obi-Wan and Anakin to give them additional development before the final ever Star Wars movie hit theaters even today this version of the Clone Wars is praised especially for its depiction of a ruthless and downright terrifying General Grievous a grievous that would be nerfed into Oblivion for all his subsequent appearances so on to 2008 the final Star Wars film ever was already released and now they wanted to redo this animated series but not just redo it entirely remake it so this movie had a lot to prove and it absolutely bombed why does Anakin need an annoying Apprentice that we've never heard of why does this movie feel like a bunch of jumbled together plot lines Why does Count Dooku look like this all of these questions had answers well almost all of them and these were further proved by the Clone Wars TV show the movie itself is not very good and still leaves a sour taste in the mouths of Clone fans but it was such a mess because it was just a bunch of jumble plot lines that were supposed to be in the series but were instead turned into a movie with very low expectations fans tuned into the Clone Wars series on Cartoon Network and it was wait actually good the first two seasons are pretty great showing us the different story arcs spread across multiple different episodes even Ahsoka Tano was starting to seem pretty bearable then the third season hits and things got ramped up to 11. we've all seen the memes about how different the Clone Wars is from the first two seasons to the rest of them but starting from season 3 onwards the Clone Wars delivered what is to this day my favorite stretch of Star Wars content out there most of the episodes of The Clone Wars are split up into different arcs told across two or three different episodes there's the yellow episodes which are usually the standard adventure stories focusing on the Jedi and Friends mostly Anakin Obi-Wan and Ahsoka but not always this series also highlights Jedi like placoon Kit Fisto and Mace Windu just to name a few there's the skippable blue episodes which are usually about R2 and C-3PO or other droids and these are the ones that really do make the show feel like it's for kids and then there's the red logo episodes which means [ __ ] is about to go down the red episodes are usually received the best and they're also usually the darker episodes that make you surprised a show like this is airing on Cartoon Network but each and every episode has its own Merit and that becomes increasingly clear because of how well written each of the characters are especially our three Central ones Anakin Skywalker was this badass War General that did things his own way and under his own terms charismatic and likable to all those that follow him and he was training his Padawan to follow in his footsteps Obi-Wan was this sassy and sarcastic Father Figure trying to keep his two kids in line and follow the rules both Matt Lanter and James Arnold Taylor emulated the performances of Hayden and Ewan while also giving the characters their own Spin and making it their own Ahsoka Tano and I cannot stress this enough went through absolute hell to get to where she is now not only story wise but in reality as well when Ahsoka was first introduced fans went absolutely ballistic this was a character they were unfamiliar with and it didn't really make much sense to introduce her if she wasn't even mentioned in Revenge of the Sith you see back in this era of Star Wars adding in content between different already told stories was a completely new idea and it wasn't met with praise Ashley Eckstein received a lot of hate not because of her performance but because people didn't like the character of Ahsoka in general as the seasons went on there was a shift in perspective when it came to Ahsoka she grew up and as she did the character grew on the audience into eventually becoming one of the most beloved Star Wars characters of all time and that's really saying something because a lot of Star Wars fans have trouble connecting with female characters for some reason but I don't know a single person who doesn't like Ahsoka Tano and has watched all of the Clone Wars I've seen recently with her show that people do have issues with her and all of those comments are followed by well I don't want to watch a kids show to understand who she is and I always found this comment to be funny because Clone Wars is not a kid's show yes it's animated yes it was on Cartoon Network but a lot of What's on Cartoon Network has always been pretty questionably for kids the show was brutal and brought forth plenty of adult themes that would go over the heads of the kids watching but make the adults watching think differently about the prequel era and I'll talk more about this in a little bit but on to my next Point as the seasons went on and this idea of additional content and context being added to the Star Wars Universe was becoming more acceptable Dave filoni really took all the risks he possibly could remember how I mentioned Darth Maul was this cool looking villain but he wasn't really much of a character well in the Clone Wars they decided that he wasn't Dead when he was chopped in half and now he has robotic spider legs and an extreme hate towards Obi-Wan Kenobi Owen also a brother named Savage oppress yes I know it's pronounced Savage Opress but you can't really get a more obvious name for a villain than that there were also additional villains like asajj Ventress who was reincarnated from her appearance in the 2003 version of the Clone Wars and Bounty Hunter CAD Bane who would serve as this sort of mentor to a younger Boba Fett who didn't exactly have a warming praise from his appearance and attacking the Clones but again with added context the character of boba became a much welcome addition to the series and it made his turn to the ruthless bounty hunter from the original trilogy make more sense all of these risks really came together and cultivate in the final season of the show if you look at where the show started and where it ended it feels like two totally different shows the beginning is a fun action-adventure series showing how cool all the Jedi and the Clones are and the end is an absolutely heart-wrenching tale about how it all fell apart and the Darkness that spreads over the Galaxy because of it it's a night and day difference and proves again just how far the show came but as great as all these characters are and how much it added to the story of the prequel trilogy the real heart and soul of the series are the Clones this is something that I don't think anybody ever expected to happen over the course of the series not even the showrunners you'd think that the show with Anakin and Obi-Wan would have fans clamoring for more about them but the Clones found a spot in the hearts of fans that wasn't occupied by any other Jedi or Star Wars characters in this series we got to see many different notable clones over the course of the war there's of course Captain Rex who kind of mirrors Anakin and Ahsoka with his battle techniques there's Commander Cody who's more like Obi-Wan but there's also clones that don't really fall under any category of representing anyone fives Echo Jesse heavy and many more are the true soul of the show a lot of the times how much you care for a character becomes indicative on how they treat their clones you have a Jedi like Flo [ __ ] who's prepared to die for his clone troopers even though they say they're meant to be Expendable and then you have Mace Windu who thinks he's above everyone and can do no wrong I have a lot to say about Mace Windu but I'm saving that conversation because right now this is a happy conversation about the Clones clones eventually went on to be given their own episodes and stories separate from anything that the Jedi were involved with even introducing the bad batch as the people who would be the last remaining clones and the real heart part of the story of this show was transferred over to their show with them the only problem with all this attachment to the clones and how close they were were the Jedi was of course order 66. why would the Clones turn on their Jedi commanders that they have such great relationships with well that was solved with the inhibitor chips a sort of Fail-Safe that would activate when Sidious gave his orders and that really solved the problem but it also made the prequel era that much more tragic when all of the Clones turned on the Jedi there's one scene that I think perfectly sums up the entire show in the final season Ahsoka and Rex are talking about the war and what they've lost and Rex says that all the clones have different feelings on the war because they know it's brought a lot of harm to the Galaxy but they also know without the war they would have never even been made it's these types of conversations that elevates the Clone Wars from more than just being a kids show on Cartoon Network watching the Clone Wars all always gives me mixed feelings I love what I'm seeing on screen and the different story lines and relationships but you also know how all this ends you know where all the Clones eventually end up and where the Jedi and Anakin eventually go and it makes this series even the more lighthearted episodes all the more tragic because you know that this doesn't have a happy ending there was also an immense amount of respect for the prequel trilogy throughout the entirety of the Clone Wars it didn't try to retcon everything to make for a better story it just provided additional context to make some of the more questionable decisions make more sense I think the most obvious bit of this respect comes from the characters of Anakin Skywalker and General Grievous in the beginning of Revenge of the Sith it shows the two of them meeting for the first time how in all of these years of the war did these two never meet I don't know but apparently they didn't so the show was carefully crafted to have these two avoid each other in each and every episode which is isn't an easy task to have your main character avoid one of your central antagonists but they did it because of a throwaway line in Revenge of the Sith this series was crafted by Star Wars fans for Star Wars fans you can feel how much love and effort went into crafting these stories and it's paid off in the end because the show has a glowing beam of light around it for fans of the franchise and for a show to have so many odds stacked against it so many things people didn't enjoy to overcome that and eventually have the fans petition to bring it back for a final season is a Real Testament of how far this series came it became so beloved that people wanted more stories out of it so a sort of sequel series was green lit several sequel series actually and even a prequel sequel to the prequel series my love for Star Wars continues to this day largely due to the Clone Wars when I want to watch Star Wars I usually put on some of my favorite episodes codes of the Clone Wars when I'm doing the dishes or just want to have something on in the background while I'm building Legos I usually put on Clone Wars this is my favorite piece of Star Wars content out there yes above all the movies all the games and my heart and love for Star Wars will always lay with the Clone Wars it's a 10 from me even some of the suckier episodes I prefer over the other Star Wars movies so yes I prefer the kids show over the original trilogy fight me all you want in the comment section let's go thank you [Music] remember when the Clone Wars came out and added hours of additional character development and context for the prequels and you thought yeah this all makes sense now but what about that one scene where Ahsoka did that one thing yeah well I don't remember it either but this show went ahead and decided to give us more context on the show that gave us greater context in the first place unnecessary a bit but unwelcome absolutely not tails the Jedi explored two very interesting stories from two very interesting Jedi fan favorite Ahsoka Tano and Count Dooku in the days that he was a Jedi across six episodes we get to see how Ahsoka was first found and brought to the Jedi Temple Count Dooku's fall to the dark side ahsoka's training for what would eventually save her life and also what happened to her after the events of the Clone Wars something I like about this series is that all the episodes take place chronologically so you get the first Ahsoka episode then three Dooku episodes and then the final two Ahsoka episodes because that's where they all fall in the timeline these are short episodes that give us a peek into small and big moments in these two different characters lives we get to see some of our beloved characters return in different forms like a younger Qui-Gon Jinn and Jedi Master yaddle and of course Anakin Skywalker and Captain Rex it was particularly cool to see Anakin and Rex and their outfits from the start of the Clone Wars with the increased budget because when you go back and look at the animation from the early Clone Wars it's not very good this is an extension of the Clone Wars and it's a very well done extension we're confirmed to be getting a second season and I'm all for more stories from this time so I say bring it on there's not really too much I can say about them right now there's nothing really wrong with any of these episodes It's just that some are more captivating for me than others so I'll give tales of the Jedi a 9 out of 10. foreign even among the people who didn't enjoy the prequels they all at least say that Revenge the Sith is the best of the prequels and a pretty good movie to those that say it was pretty good I disagree because this is Far and Away my favorite Star Wars movie ever made for one we get to see the best versions of all these characters ewan's Obi-Wan has been cemented as the best thing about the prequels for all non-prequel fans and even prequel fans alike Hayden has really settled into the character of Anakin Skywalker and the chemistry between the two of them is fantastic you can really see the friendship and Brotherhood that these two have cultivated over the years in the war and this is even without the context of the Clone Wars show the story of this film was truly the story that George Lucas wanted to tell in terms of Darth Vader's origin across the first two movies George Lucas crafted a new world within Star Wars with lots of unique planets lots of Jedi a government and this movie had to show us a satisfying conclusion to these stories and these characters and also connect it to the original trilogy while also breaking down everything he had built in the first two films without everything was looking this movie had a lot of work to do the first two movies weren't all that well received and the answers to everybody's questions had to come in this film but that's where the movie excels answering the questions you had to a satisfying if not heartbreaking manner Revenge of the Sith took the best aspects from both of the other films and combined them here Phantom Menace had really great lightsaber duels and written dialogue and attacker clones had a great story and story structure Revenge of the Sith is the perfect combination of both of these elements sure there's still some corny written dialogue but it's dialed down this time and I think most of that has to do with the actors being more comfortable with their characters and their performances seeing Anakin turn from this charismatic and like protagonist to the most evil man in the galaxy is absolutely heartbreaking to watch even without the added character development from the Clone Wars but with it makes this movie almost hard to watch Order 66 and the entire fall of the Jedi sends shivers down my spine every time I watch it and now that we know that like dozens of Jedi actually survived this because of all the new stories and video games but back as a kid when I thought that literally only Obi-Wan and Yoda survived this made it all the more heartbreaking the Jedi Order was the absolute coolest thing about Star Wars to me and to see all of that taken away in a matter of minutes really does something to you as a kid though I suppose it could have been worse is Anakin's turn to the dark side a little quick yes it is and it's one of those things that makes a lot of sense on paper but the actual execution does seem rather quick how does Anakin turn to the dark side you might ask well he's very good friends with this Chancellor Palpatine guy he's kind of like that weird baby Uncle that your mom doesn't want you talking to and if the outcome of this story is any indication I can see her reasoning you see Anakin has all these nightmares that his wife is gonna die so he wants a way out of that and Palpatine says that he can teach him the ways the dark side and protect her wait a minute how does Palpatine know the ways the dark side you're the Sith Lord wait a minute this Chancellor is actually Darth Sidious no oh wait but I mean you're Dwight and then he's the yeah oh you see this turn feels very fast to most people because it relies on you buying the relationship between Anakin and Padme and I'd say for the most part people didn't really do that from Attack of the Clones there's also the fact that the Jedi Council has pissed Anakin off but you don't really know to what degree unless you watch the Clone Wars that's where all that added contacts from the Clone Wars helps Revenge of the Sith but it's also still pretty fast he goes from happy go lucky Anakin to what have I done to killing younglings in a matter of minutes the thing I still have a problem with in this film is how Vader gets his name Palpatine just kind of comes up with it out of thin air no Rhyme or Reason it wasn't named after some previous artifact or a special ship or something it could have easily have been Darth Mater if Palpatine had said a different word I remember seeing this movie in theaters as a kid and even being like wait that's how he gets his name but even the plots outside of Anakin turning to the dark side make the movie great Obi-Wan going to get Grievous and the opening battle over Coruscant are some of my favorite moments in all of Star Wars and all of the stuff involving Anakin's turn are my absolute favorite moments of Star Wars films Order 66 is heartbreaking to watch Anakin vs Obi-Wan is the most ridiculous fight scene in the history of fight scenes in terms of how long it is and how far they travel while they're fighting but it's also the best lightsaber battle in the history of Star Wars but I think the most notable thing to come out of this film especially in recent years are the memes there isn't five minutes that go by when I'm watching this movie that I can't recognize a moment or a scene that hasn't been riddled with memes and gifs but quite honestly that just makes me enjoy the movie ten times more there's also the four hour fan edit of this movie that combines Revenge of the Sith with the final four episodes of Clone Wars and it's a bit jarring at first to see the live action blend with the animation but it's also incredibly well edited and for any fan of the Star Wars prequels it's a must watch just like Clone Wars if I want to watch a Star Wars movie Nine out of 10 times it's Revenge the Sith are there issues with the film yes there are do I look past a lot of these issues due to Nostalgia yes I do but in the end this is my favorite Star Wars movie The Tragedy of Anakin Skywalker is the best storyline in all of Star Wars and I think this movie does a really great job at answering questions and preparing this man to become the most feared ruler in the Galaxy 9.5 out of 10 I still do have some issues with the movie myself but I can't see myself going lower than a 9.5 honestly depending on the day it's anywhere from a 9.5 to a 10 so I'll also just say it's a 10 too like I've mentioned the entire prequel era is a tragedy it's ultimately the tragedy of Anakin Skywalker but it's also a tragedy for the people who pushed him in that direction so let's talk about the Jedi Council in this era we see time and time again the utter incompetence and arrogance of the Jedi Order dating all the way back to The Phantom Menace when they wouldn't allow Qui-Gon to train Anakin even though he says it's the most important duty in the entire universe an attack of the Clones Count Dooku outright tells Obi-Wan the Jedi Council is being duped right under their noses and Obi-Wan doesn't believe him in the Clone Wars we see this time and time again this has really brought forth with arcs like the wrong Jedi and really the entirety of season seven these arcs and more like them bring up ideas and thoughts that were either glanced over during the prequel films or just absent altogether in season 5 Ahsoka is framed for a bombing on the Jedi Temple so while she's on the Run Anakin is hell-bent on clearing his padawan's name and finding the real culprit this Arc is extremely important not only to the Clone Wars series but the character development of both Anakin and Ahsoka at this point we've had five seasons to build up ahsoka's character into becoming a fan favorite and also five seasons worth of time for Anakin to care about Ahsoka when Anakin is successful in clearing ahsoka's name Ahsoka now has a completely different outlook on the Jedi Order and decides to leave furthering Anakin's disdain of the order and helping his turn to the dark side seem more believable the Jedi Order completely abandoned Ahsoka and turned her into the enemy without as much as a second thought she was very clear on her position and holding on to her innocence but the Jedi Order declared her an enemy and when the truth inevitably came out she gets two apologies one for mannequin and one from placoon Obi-Wan kind of stands there in silence wanting to apologize but also also still putting his faith in the Jedi Order so that's pretty on brand for him and the rest of the present Jedi tell her that this was actually a great trial and she's going to be a better Jedi because of it they don't admit to their wrongdoing they don't take accountability and once Mace Windu speaks Ahsoka realizes that she doesn't want to be part of this order because she doesn't believe in them anymore in season 7 during the worst received episodes with the Martez sisters her feelings about the council are only further proven when the sisters tell their story about how their parents died during a Chase on Coruscant trying to get CAD Bane the Jedi were trying to stop a transport from crashing into a crowd of people and instead directed it towards the Martez family home killing both of the parents the Jedi said something along the lines of the force works in mysterious ways and then left the Martez sisters alone in the streets of Coruscant with two dead parents now I have to talk about Mace Windu before the Clone Wars series Mace Windu was my absolute favorite Jedi it's Samuel L Jackson he's got a purple lightsaber what's not to love while the Clone Wars really ruined the character of Mace Windu for me not because it changed the character at all but because of the additional character development the way that Anakin got more likable a similar thing happened for me with Mace Windu but in the opposite direction in the Clone Wars mace represents everything that's wrong with the Jedi Order he's really the personification of the arrogance and the incompetence on a situation by situation basis that the Jedi Order has he doesn't like the way Anakin does things because it's very unlike the Jedi way he had the same disdain for Dooku and tales of the Jedi and even Qui-Gon during The Phantom Menace when Ahsoka is kicked out of the order it's mace that really cements her decision to leave you can see the reaction she has to his comment and even when she leaves in this Frame you can see Anakin in the center placoon and Obi-Wan on one side and mace on the other representing her reasons for staying in the order and her reason for leaving on the right so with this additional context to mace's character when Anakin has the opportunity to choose which side he wants in Revenge the Sith he looks at mace and sees the person who drove his Padawan out of his life the hypocrisy and arrogance the Jedi the person who didn't Grant him the rank of Master and then on the other side he sees the one person who's paid attention to him and told him how special he really is when I look at it this way this makes Anakin's fall that much more believable like I said before I loved Mace Windu in the trilogy it just took some time for me to see what his role in Anakin's downfall really was and I think mace being the person who represents what's wrong with the Jedi Order actually makes him an infinitely more interesting character than just being that dude with the purple lightsaber and this is one of those things that's really up for debate this is how I view mace and the Jedi Order but maybe you have a different view of things Jedi are evil and feel free to let me know if you think differently in the comments below the Jedi inherently felt like they were the higher power in the galaxy and in part that's the absolute truth they were they have these magical force abilities that nobody else had they held themselves to a stricter code of living and promoted peace it's just their perception of Peace was shifted because of their views on the force they didn't always look out for the little people and when things went wrong it was just the will of the force not their fault they didn't treat the prophecy of the chosen one with respect their views about attachments and love held them back from truly being that ultimate power in the galaxy and they thought with all the power of the Jedi combined and the Clone Army they'd surely be able to Snuff out this Darth Sidious guy because what threat is the power of two Sith compared to the mighty Republic with thousands of Jedi in trying to expose Sidious and take control of Anakin and it was too little too late and it's their overlooking of all these aspects that eventually led to their own downfall as a Saga Star Wars has seen many ups and downs there's the original trilogy perhaps the most influential set of films that have ever been made a prequel trilogy that wasn't loved by many at first but is now adored by the generation it was made for and the sequel Trilogy which everybody claims to hate yet the generation that it was made for doesn't really have the ability to make their opinions heard just yet but even if this generation grows up and says the sequels are still bad they'll look at the Saga as a whole and realize that For Better or Worse the prequel era is the most unique era in all of Star Wars the Jedi the clean and CGI looking atmosphere the droids and the Clones the Republic the Clone Wars all of this is entirely unique to the franchise when episode 7 came out we realized that this was probably just gonna be the original trilogy told again and in the end it kind of was the prequel trilogy wasn't that there wasn't a happy ending the good guys didn't win all of the different colorful planets and aliens are still very specific to this time frame in general and as it stands since this Trilogy we haven't seen more than three Jedi on screen at the same time and that's only if you count Force ghosts while it wasn't for everyone and there are still a fair share of faults the prequel era stands as my favorite for a lot of different reasons number one being how different it is from the rest of Star Wars things like tales of the Jedi offer us another glimpse into this era and I'm all for that because there's something about the prequels that brings me back to a time where Star Wars was this golden franchise with absolutely no Faults in my eyes a time that I loved Star Wars with all my heart and to this day I don't quite think Star Wars has ever been able to recapture the magic for me the way that the prequels did but those are just my thoughts let me know down comments if and why you disagree and if you enjoyed the video make sure to leave it a like so I know you guys like this kind of video if you want me to do more Star Wars videos covering the other eras please let me know that too subscribe if you haven't already and I'll see you guys in the next one foreign [Music]

Channel: The Thrifty Typewriter

Views: 426,181

Keywords: star wars, george lucas, anakin skywalker, star wars clone wars, star wars clone wars 2003, star wars prequels, prequels, star wars prequel era, star wars eras, star wars timeline, the prequel era, the thrifty typewriter, star wars clones, the clone wars, clone wars season 7, clone wars season 8, anakin vs obi wan, the jedi council, the jedi council dumbest decision, ahsoka, ahsoka review, ahsoka tano, ahsoka and anakin, ahsoka and anakin clone wars, ahsoka clone wars

Id: wwk-_3Oaea0

Length: 42min 50sec (2570 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 05 2023